Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..

From Bowling to Books – Belle Lanes Back In The Day

Because of an extended light cycle, one has plenty of time to sit in traffic and contemplate the intersection at 106th and NE 8th in Downtown Bellevue.

Like many corners of the city, the cross streets here in the northern part of The Core are a study in progress. Look in each direction and your eyes will see something new. And old. Sometimes the two are pitted against each other. The Sixties meet the Nineties meet the 21st Century, all within four acres of prime blacktop. Guns are sold across the street from upscale furniture. The PACCAR Building – Bellevue’s first skyscraper – shares the air with Lincoln Square. A massive Sequoia tree – older than all of the buildings which surround it – graces the corner of a bank lot, with a tall hotel towering over both. Cars park for money in a nondescript asphalt wasteland where a Phillips 66 gas station once fueled the Eastside suburban machine – before it became a pet supply store and then was demolished into history. On the SE corner: a two-story strip mall that has managed to stay relevant in a spot where higher buildings now dwell. The past and present are situated on the parcels which surround the traffic lights, placed like awkward neighbors.

Then there’s the old bowling alley:

May 1989

This place was the Bellevue night life back in the day. Belle Lanes opened in 1957 with 32 lanes. There were also card tables and a lunch counter. The building was immediately noticeable from the outside by its distinctive rounded roof line, especially on the downtown landscape of the 1960s when there was little else on the corner. While searching for any references to Belle Lanes – there weren’t many – I came across a 1966 advert in Popular Science selling Brunswick bowling balls, and naming Belle Lanes as an outlet. Then there’s also this gem from the late 1950s:

Courtesy of Eastside Heritage Center

The establishment continued on well into the 1980s as a down-home way station for a good turkey sandwich or a card game. Bowling leagues continued; my mother-in-law even bowled there. In 1990 a Seattle Times article saw a bright future for the building and for the bowling alley. Louis Chirillo also captured the colors and shape around the same time:

Photo courtesy of Louis Chirillo

But by 1992 the rosy outlook from the article two years before changed to an announcement that the bowling alley would close, and that the building would be leased to “an undisclosed national bookseller.” The main reason given by the building owner: “We can’t make money from pull-tabs in Bellevue, like other bowling alleys.” There also seemed to be a perceived notion that Downtown Bellevue no longer had a place for a bowling alley.

Today the building is a bookstore and coffee shop, while retaining the same distinctive roof:

Barnes & Noble on 106th - August 2011

The Barnes & Noble does brisk business, and the Starbucks attached to the south end of the establishment is one of the roomier stores I’ve visited. The high curved ceiling lends well to both outlets, giving an honest sense of big vintage space. In this part of town a person can notice a lot by sitting at a traffic light, but a true feeling of this building’s character comes from going inside and imagining what it was and where it is going. While it’s sad that a piece of Bellevue history died in the early 1990s, the building itself is being used well. Interesting that Lucky Strike opened at Lincoln Square in 2007, a mere block from this old bowing alley and less than 20 years after Belle Lanes closed. Also interesting is that the Meydenbauer Center was designed with the same curved roof line. Coincidence?

It’s the circle of life.

If you have any memories of Belle Lanes, share them below in the comments. Next time, another look at another spot in Bellevue – as we dig for history and find nuggets of the past. Until then, enjoy the view!
—————————–Seattle Times, September 5, 1990 – Belle Lanes is Still On A Roll

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..